Halloween Fun

For the boys' second Halloween, they went dressed as the Shipley brothers (UT football players, both #8). Jonathan suggested it as a joke, and I said - okay. It was cheap, and until they are into playing make-believe/dress-up with old costumes, I think it's kind of a waste of money to get two costumes before they actually want to wear them. Next year I think we'll go all out. So be warned, J.

We had a few days of Halloween Fun this year. First, we went to a "trunk or treat" party at the church where the boys go for MDO. I think we probably could have checked to see if our church had an event, but at this point they better know the kids in their class than any kids in Sunday School, so we decided to go here.

It took maybe two trunks for Ben & Jack to get the idea of "trick or treat." They held their bags out and waited patiently for candy, saying something resembling "trick or treat" to the people handing out the goods. Not really, it wasn't even close, but they were talking so I think it counts. Anyway, that is until some nice elderly gentleman held out the bowl, and then Jack discovered he could regulate the amount of candy he put in his basket. I WISH I had taken comparison pictures of their bags after trick-or-treating, because while Ben would dutifully pick out one piece of candy (almost always one he recognized, like a Kit Kat bar that he had been given earlier in the week at home), Jack would just reach in and take a whole handful. I get such a kick out of how different their personalities are. But they did use their manners and said "thank you" to each person before running quickly ahead to the next car. They had so much fun!

Next, we went trick-or-treating at Daddy's office. The boys loved running around, getting candy, meeting people, and looking down 56 floors through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Seeing Daddy at work in the middle of the day was pretty nice, too. :) They had a piece of chocolate on the way down and Ben puts it away fast, but Jack savors it and gets it all over himself.

 

And last, halloween night, we went trick-or-treating on our street. Ben and Jack absolutely loved going up to doors and knocking. They often wanted to go inside, but did well with putting candy in their bags. When we got home they wanted to eat it all. When I didn't open a Kit-Kat right away, Ben put one after another in my lap. They were limited to one each, though. They had fun opening the door to trick-or-treaters, too!

What big little boys we have. They came right in and plopped down with their halloween bags and started looking through their goodies. Below, see Ben showing off a Kit Kat, and Jack didn't make it any farther than a couple of feet inside the door.

Walking the dogs

The boys love walking Buddy & Littlebit. They especially like walking Bit since they can maintain some semblance of control over her as compared to Buddy. I love holding their little hands and letting them walk the dogs down the street. They take it very seriously and will "talk" to the dogs to encourage them to keep moving as we are walking - it's so cute!

They also love playing with Bit & Buddy.

On our way to Frisco

We took Christmas pics in Frisco again this year, and I took the boys' shirts off so they didn't get wrinkled or chewed on on the drive up. I had to snap some pics since they looked so cute without any shirts on!

Afterwards we went to Babe's Chicken House for dinner, which was surprisingly busy for a Monday night! The boys danced around to the hokey pokey while we waited, then during dinner the waitresses invited them to dance with them to the hokey pokey! So funny. They ate well, too :)

Friends & Family

We had a day of friends and family when Jackson & Charlie came over with Amanda & Shayne for a visit, then later had friends over for dinner. Luke & Sami came over, as well as Lindsay & Cody & little Pearl.

The boys looooove Jackson & Charlie. They like watching them giggle & play, and following them around. Then they all wrestled with J in their room, which they thought was extra fun. You can tell Jackson is a big brother - he is so sweet with Ben & Jack. Charlie was having too much fun to stop and take a picture. The boys appreciated their halloween goodie bags from their cousins, too!

This was the boys' first time to meet Pearl, but they have seen her picture on facebook and one night refused to finish eating dinner unless I continued showing them her picture. They all had fun playing together and the boys made Pearl feel right at home by getting down and crawling with her. I thought that was cute :) It was a fun visit for the adults too, and we need to plan get-togethers more often. Below you can see Lindsay in the attack zone, Jonathan walking with Pearl & one of the boys, and dinner time!

Eyes, Ears, Nose, & Mouth

Somewhere along the way, Ben & Jack learned the parts of their face. I asked them to show me their eyes yesterday and they squinted, instead of pointing somewhere near their eyes, which I thought was adorable :)

 Ears

Nose

Mouth & Tongue

In the process, I got some great smiles :)

A helpful hand & fun with Daddy

Came home from school yesterday and the boys decided to help one another take off their socks. I had to grab the camera, because it was seriously cute - what helpful brothers!

So the boys have totally figured out my homemade baby-proofing for the entertainment center (a hairband tied around the handles) and love getting in there now. I've resigned myself to this, and am trying to take the approach of the less attention I pay to it, the less they will be interested in it. Earlier this week they thought it was fun to "hide" in between the doors. Ben was sort of over it by the time I got the camera out, but Jack really had a ball.

Ben & Jack have really enjoyed their stuffed animals lately - getting them out, hugging them, dancing around with them, etc. So I pulled out their big stuffed elephants and let them play yesterday - so much fun! They carried them around and layed on them, mostly. I thought Ben might take a second nap for a while there. Need to get those out more often :)

Finally, here are the boys playing with Daddy last night. Love these three :)

4 cuties & a Jack story

I love our twin playgroup! Next time we meet I am going to attempt to get a pic of all of the kids together, but here is one from last week of Ben & Jack with their buds Vivi & Charlie. Isn't she such a little lady sitting in the chair amidst all the boys? They are precious and so is their sweet mom, who was a lifesaver to me in the early stages of this whole twin mom thing!

I don't know where to add it, so I am going to add it here - the boys LOVE school and run into their classroom giggling. Tuesday we were walking in from the parking lot and Jack spotted one of his classmates standing by his car, waiting for his mom to get his baby sister out. Jack stopped, held out his arm and started "talking" and nodding his head vigorously at his classmate, like "Come on! It's time to go to school, you should go with us to class!" He knew that was one of his little friends and was very socially engaging - I was laughing, but it was also so smart! I mean, there are tons of kids walking into the school every day, and Jack knew that this one was someone that belonged with him. So cute!!

Pumpkin Patch

We took the boys to the Arboretum on Sunday. I wore two pair of sunglasses to protect my eyes, but it was basically fine. This year's pumpkin patch pics were not nearly as easy to get as last year's - Ben & Jack just wanted to run around! They especially loved the hay bale maze, and we had a lot of fun with them, not counting the tears when we tried to get them to sit still for a picture. In the last two pictures, you can see Jack saying "Hi" and waving to the pumpkins in the patch behind the fence. :)